Simon Nare
President Cyril Ramaphosa told Parliament on Thursday that work was continuing to finalise the National Water Crisis Committee, and that those responsible for failures in water delivery would be held accountable.
Replying to oral questions in the National Assembly, Ramaphosa said the committee had not yet met formally but that preparatory meetings had already been held to address water challenges ahead of its first sitting. He appealed for patience.
“We will, from meetings that have been held, consolidate the views that will be coming from all key stakeholders and we will then be able to take this matter forward,” said Ramaphosa.
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Ramaphosa said he would meet Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana later on Thursday to discuss final issues that needed to be scaled up.
He reminded MPs that Godongwana had used his budget speech in February to criticise municipalities that diverted water revenue for other purposes, instead of using it to maintain and improve water infrastructure.
He said several ministers would serve on the committee to strengthen the intervention.
He said the committee had not met on Wednesday as originally scheduled, but when it does, it would consolidate the preparatory work already done and the proposals that had emerged from it.
The president said an unreliable supply of water placed a heavy burden on the lives of many South Africans and on the ability of businesses to operate. It was for that reason, he said, that in his State of the Nation Address he announced the establishment of the crisis committee to ensure a coordinated response.
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“Work is currently underway to finalise the National Water Action Plan and establish the National Water Crisis Committee. It is expected that this will be completed by the end of March 2026,” he said.
The president said the committee would focus on addressing immediate challenges in municipal water and sanitation delivery through a focus on a limited number of municipalities; expediting institutional, financial and regulatory reforms to address the systemic causes of the water crisis; and attracting investment in water infrastructure, increasing both public and private sector investment.
Ramaphosa said the main causes of the water crisis were at local government level and that maintenance of municipal water and sanitation infrastructure had been neglected in many municipalities over decades.
“There is therefore a huge backlog for the repair and refurbishment of water services. The situation has been exacerbated by a lack of capacity, organised crime, widespread theft of water infrastructure, corruption, poor billing and revenue management, illegal connections and water leaks.
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“Solving South Africa’s water crisis, therefore, requires a multifaceted approach focused on institutional reform, infrastructure maintenance, and human capital development at the municipal level,” he said.
“[T]here will be accountability for those who fail to implement or do the work that they are meant to do. We will ensure that there will be accountability,” he said.
In a follow-up question, Economic Freedom Fighters MP Veronica Mente called for the water committee’s terms of reference to be made public before its work started, to guard against any attempt to privatise water.
Mente also raised the long-running water crisis in Giyani, saying the community had gone 14 years without water and that ANC deployees were to blame for the situation.
Ramaphosa replied that progress had been made in Giyani, saying the project was between 90% and 92% complete and that 200 km to 335 km of bulk water pipelines, which had previously been left lying along the roadside, had now been installed.
“Those pipelines have now been installed, and they span a distance of 325km from the Nandoni Dam and into the villages in Giyani. A number of villages now have water. It’s 90% complete,” he said.
He added that 23 of the 24 villages have reticulated and household connections.